Well-known as the film that put director Robert Rodriguez "on the map" – he was able to remake it as an English-language film three years later, as DESPERADO with Antonio Banderas – EL MARIACHI is an entertaining little film that once again shows that it's possible to shoot decent action on a very low budget. In tone it reminds me a lot of the gritty crime thrillers that came out of Turkey in the 1970s, except with more comedy and romance. The story, one of mistaken identity, is kept simple but there are quite a few decent twists as things play out. Rodriguez really gave a tour-de-force effort behind the scenes; not only did he act as director and editor, he also performed most of the other duties behind the camera. His swooping, frenetic, perfectly-edited style brought him to Hollywood's attention and the rest is, as they say, history.

Back to EL MARIACHI, and it's a film with some decent performances – first-timer Carlos Gallardo essays the reluctant hero role with some skill, while Reinol Martinez's thug-turned-assassin packs some real presence, and Peter Marquardt's villain is supremely slimy. I could have done without the wooden Consuelo Gomez in the romance scenes; thankfully she was replaced by Salma Hayek in DESPERADO. Said romance scenes drag the pacing of the film down in the middle and leave a hole of about twenty minutes where not a lot happens.

Thankfully, things pick up for an engaging final shoot-out, and there's always an action scene never too far away. The shoot-outs are a lot of fun, as are the stunts – I especially liked the "bus swing" which shows you need practically no money or CGI effects to create an exciting shot. While the fact that it's a low-budget, Mexican, Spanish-language film – one that Rodriguez regarded as "practice" for his later Hollywood career – work against it and mean that most people will never have seen or heard of it – EL MARIACHI is a fun B-movie that fans of the director will enjoy.

El Mariachi plays his guitar but is mistaken for a hit men. Lot of thugs with guns keep trying to kill him. The story isn't the big draw of this movie. It's really just an excuse to shot a lot of guns and make an action movie. Robert Rodriguez signals his arrival with this well shot indie. Sure the big draw when it came out was the low low cost of production. That didn't matter when it comes to the value of the camera work. Even the most benign scenes are shot in an exciting compelling way. It's a great sample of what Rodriguez would do in Hollywood later on.

I recently watched it again after almost 20 years. I have to admit that I don't remember the narration or the dubbing. They sounded odd to me. It's very distracting.

This movie put director Robert Rodriguez "on the map." He followed up with two sequels: "Desperado" and "Once Upon A Time In Mexico." Not surprising, the best of the three was this low-budget opening film. As Rodriquez had more and more money to spend on the sequels, the stories got more and more carried away with too many explosions and special-effects, losing the charm of this first effort.

Unlike the sequels, this Mexican-made, so it is in Spanish with English subtitles. Don't let that scare you away. There isn't a great deal of dialog so keeping up with the subtitles is very easy.

The movie has very interesting camera closeups and angles as Rodriquez showed he was going to be a stylish director. The story is simple but effective, suspenseful and even with some humor. Unnlike his subsequent films in this trilogy, the action is not overdone here.

The length is also is a plus. At 80 minutes you can be thoroughly entertained in less than an hour-and-a half. The only disappointment to me was the print quality on th DVD, but I got an early edition. There might be better editions out since. It's not fuzzy but it's not sharp, either.

Anyway: highly recommend for actions/crime buffs who like style in their photography, or saw the sequels and would like to know the history of this particular "Mariachi."